1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a serial-parallel interface circuit. More particularly, the present invention relates to a serial-parallel interface circuit with non-volatile memories applied to a reconfigurable circuit system capable of reducing the cost and saving circuit initialization time effectively.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional reconfigurable circuits and systems use memories for storing the configurations and parameters. To avoid the usage of a large number of pins, digital control signals are usually transmitted into the system in series via a serial-parallel interface circuit. However, to set the system configuration properly, an external device with non-volatile memories is required to perform the initialization procedure by sending the desired data through the serial-parallel interface circuit.
In practical applications, conventional non-volatile memory devices can be used in digital systems to reduce the hardware complexity and the time required for initialization. Some conventional non-volatile memory devices use the antifuses to selectively connect to the nodes in the circuit, which effectively reduce the equivalent resistance of the connection points and achieve high area efficiency. However, such devices can only be programmed once and requires a more expensive manufacturing process, resulting in higher production cost.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for solving the above-mentioned problems by providing a serial-parallel interface circuit with nonvolatile memories that are readable, writable, reprogrammable, and capable of reducing the initialization time and cost effectively.